The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1887-09-10
AWFUL CALAMITY.

over One Hundred and Fifty Lives Lost
and Large Number of Persons injured
in Burning Theater at Exeter, England
Terrible Scenes Among the Panic
Stricken Crowd.
LONDON, Sept. 6.-During tho perform
ance of "The Romany Rye" in the thea,
ter at Exeter, last evening, tho building
was discovered TO be on fire. The audience
became panic-stricien and made a fran
tic rush for the exits in spite of the heroic
efforts of the attaches to reassure them
and induce them to go out quietly. The
occupants of the pit engaged in an awful
struggle for egress in the narrow aisles.
Men and women were deliberately
knocked down and trampled upon by
those behind them, and hundreds of per-
son were almost entirely denuded in
the terrible fight for life, The pit
was finally cleared, but a large
number of the occupants of that
portion of the house were seriously in
jured and presented q horrible spectacle
as they reached the streets. The occupant
of the gallery did not fare SO well. There
was only one very narrow exit from the
upper tier involving the desc mt of a very
| long fight of stairs, and here an almost
indescrbable scene of terror and slaughter
ensued. The rush for the stairs was ter
rife, and in moment the
entire passage was blocked, those
persons who kept their feet being sup
ported by a solid mass of PROSTATE
humanity. The shrieks, groans and curses
of the imprisoned and mangled, the
wounded and the dying were perfectly
heartrending, but there was no relief, and
in a moment scores of men and women
Z were either sutfocated to death or killed
by being trodden upon. A fre-escape was
at last brought to one Of the gallery win
dows, and through this medium
the pressure was relieved, and
a great many persons were
lowered to the streets. AS soon as the
house had been cleared of the living, the
work of removing the dead was begun
and sixty bodies were taken out by means
of the fire escape. The wounded survi-
vors were conveyed to the hospital and
their number at this time can not be def
nitely ascertained, but it is very large.
The total number of lives lost is estimat-
ed at one hundred, but may exceed that
figure.
The fire started N the flies during the
fourth act of the play. When the flames
were discovered drop scene was lowered
to prevent the current Of air from increas-
ing the blaze. After this was done the
: actors and stage hands threw open door
to make their escape, when the draft
caused the flames TO burst through TO
the drop scene and ignite the woodwork
of the gallery. The flames overlook the
hindermost of the unfortunate people who
were wedged in the stairway and literally
roasted them alive. There was no escape
for them, the fire being at their backs
and a compact. immovable mass of hui
man beings in front. The firemen reached
the upper windows and took out all the
people they could find, but most of them
were dead aud many others died soor
after they were taken out. The hospitals
revived few persons who were thought
to be dead from suffocation, but
; at four O'Clock this morning
nearly a hundred corpses laid il
rows OH the floor, and these did not com
prise the total number of the dead, as q
great many bodies were burned to ashe
- in the theater. Some Of the dead wer,
!, simply suffocated and not at all mutilate'
- or burned. The occupants of the dres
: circle escaped without injury, the in
iured and dead being confined Il
the pit and the upper circles, The build
:, ing was destroyed.
= One hundred and thirty bodies hav
], been taken out Of the theater thus far. o
9 these one hundred were men aud boys am
= thirty women. A score or more of the in
y iured were taken to the hospital, and
large number were taken to their homes